"Always remember the difference between economic power and political power: You can refuse to hire someone's services or buy his products in the private sector and go somewhere else instead. In the public sector, though, if you refuse to accept a politician's or bureaucrat's product or services you go to jail. Ultimately, after all, all regulations are observed and all taxes are paid at gunpoint. I believe those few who can't even see that have been short-sighted sheep...." ~ Rick Gaber

Blinded by Dumbo

If President Al Gore had committed U.S. Marines to Liberia, he would be the object of endless ridicule from Republicans.

If, three months after President Al Gore had proclaimed a cessation of hostilities in Iraq, we still had not conclusively discovered weapons of mass destruction and American troops were still being picked off one by one by Iraqi forces and there was no definite timetable for American withdrawal, Republicans would very rightly be denouncing Gore for gross incompetence.

If President Al Gore and a Democratic congress had added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Republicans would be denouncing the package as fiscally reckless, super-costly to the taxpayer and a great leap forward toward full-blown socialized medicine.

If President Al Gore had signed the largest and most costly education bill in American history - a bill whose chief Senate sponsor was none other than the patron saint of Chappaquiddick, Ted Kennedy - Republicans would have ridiculed the president and his policies until the cows came home.

If President Al Gore had signed the most restrictive campaign finance reform bill in American history, Republicans would have denounced him as Public Enemy Number One of the First Amendment.

If President Al Gore had announced support for continuation of Bill Clinton's assault weapons ban, Republicans would have denounced him as Public Enemy Number One of the Second Amendment.

If President Al Gore had signed the USA Patriot Act, Republicans would have denounced him as Public Enemy Number One of the Fourth Amendment.

If President Al Gore had used September 11 as a reason to take away more freedom than any other president in history, Republicans would have denounced him as a reckless demagogue and Public Enemy Number One of the Constitution.

If President Al Gore had presided over record federal budgets and deficits, Republicans would have derided him as a flaming socialist.

If President Al Gore had put his blessing on federal funding for fetal stem cell research, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and others would be calling for a Nuremberg Trial.

Well, Al Gore is not our president. George W. Bush is. He has done all of the above with the blessing of most Republicans. He will run unopposed for the Republican nomination for a second term.

Come November 2004, Republican voters will have forgotten all about the Bush record as outlined in the aforementioned paragraphs. They will exhort us to support him for a second term because if we don't we will get A DEMOCRAT! THE HORROR!

The disreputable side of me almost wishes Al Gore had been elected in 2000. How much of the above could he have gotten away with?

George W. Bush is the biggest tyrant and socialist ever to stink up the Oval Office. And those in the media who call themselves conservatives absolutely love him. What do they want to conserve? Oppressive taxation? The world's most lavish welfare state? A federal education department that they once wanted to abolish? Gun control?

All establishment conservatives want to conserve is Clintonism. They never get rid of anything that Clinton, LBJ, FDR, Woodrow Wilson, etc. gave us. Democrats are at least honest when they say they support high taxes, welfare, gun control, etc. Republicans say they oppose these things until they get their guys in charge.

If your son is smoking dope, it is because Uncle Sam has not been aggressive enough in the War on Drugs. If your daughter is tarting it up with every guy on the football team, it is because there is not enough federal money for abstinence education. Republicans want just as many goodies from government as Democrats.

Oh sure, Bush has not hoed around with any interns and then lied about it while under oath. However, the rest of his administration has been more deplorable than Clinton's.

Christians tell me that I should support Bush because, like, he professes to be a born-again Christian.

And your point is . . . .?

The Bible tells us that we shall know people by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16) The fruit on Bush's tree has been just as, if not more, poisonous than any fruit that would have been born by Al Gore.

We have one party running this country anymore: the Socialist War Party. In 2004 it will get 99 percent of the vote. This party has two factions: one represented by Dumbo the Disney elephant and the other represented by--the following word appears over 40 times in the King James Bible to describe a not-too-horribly-brilliant four-legged beast of burden--an ass.

Bush's supporters are simply blinded by Dumbo. When push comes to shove that is all they see. Just as in the Wizard of Oz, they tell us to ignore the man behind the curtain. Listen to the rhetoric, but do not watch the action.

No matter which faction of the Socialist War Party prevails in 2004, nothing will change. Domestically, we will have more socialism year by year. And we will have troops spread all over the globe for God knows what purpose. We will be in Iraq for several years to come, if not permanently. We never will catch Osama bin Laden. Hatred for America will continue to spread throughout the Arab world and in our infinite hubris we will not pull our troops out of there. More restrictions will be placed on our God-given right to self-defense. There will be more and more federal intrusion into education and medicine. But if Republicans are responsible for this, their supporters will tell us that this is no big deal, because they are blinded by Dumbo.

Unless millions of Americans quit blindly following their traditional parties, take a look at the real world implications of current government policies, and start demanding the repeal of just about everything that has been implemented since 1913, this country will continue on its bobsled ride into slavery.

Doug Newman is a New Jersey native who has lived in Colorado since 1995. He hosts a Christian, Libertarian web page called The Fountain of Truth. He writes for several pro-freedom web pages. He is retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve and works in sales to support his punditry habit.